Google's Chrome Web Browser Turns 5, And There's No Slowing it Down

Isn't it amazing how fast time can fly, sometimes? It sure doesn't feel like five full years ago (at least, to me) when Google took the veil off of its own vision of a Web browser, but what a five years it has been. Today, GoogleChrome enjoys a healthy 17% of the marketshare's pie, and it seems certain that its success will only continue, or more likely, continue to grow.

You might recall that just before Chrome's launch, Google released a 38-page comic that detailed what was in store - it was as though the company had to do that in order to prepare people for what was to come. One of the biggest design characteristics? The fact that tabs would be on top of the browser, not underneath the address bar. Admittedly, I felt like that meant little at first, but I've come to prefer it.

Another major feature was the fact that the browser could individualize each tab by making them their own process. That way, if a website happened to cause the tab to crash, it wouldn't affect the rest of the browser (I have had entire Chrome browser crashes, however, but the reasons were likely beyond the scope of a simple fault like these sandboxes were meant to protect us from).

I admit that prior to Chrome's initial release, I was sceptical. I was one of those people who wrote it off, and simply wasn't too fair about doing so. After its launch, however, I found myself genuinely "wowed". Despite that, it took me two more years before I decided to replace my beloved Firefox, a decision I haven't regretted. While no Web browser is perfect, I have found Chrome to offer the best featureset for my needs, and given I am so tied into Google's ecosystem at this point, the syncing ability is what refuses to let me go. Plus, I generally prefer the interface of Chrome, versus Firefox - or any other browser for that matter.